


Because You Left Her

by ArborRose



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, RIORDAN Rick - Works, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, College, Cross-Posted on Wattpad, Dialogue Heavy, F/M, Jason Grace is a Good Friend, Multiple Endings, Not Canon Compliant, POV Jason Grace, Post-Tartarus (Percy Jackson), Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Presumed Dead, Protective Jason Grace
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-23
Updated: 2020-12-24
Packaged: 2021-03-11 05:47:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,843
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28270098
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArborRose/pseuds/ArborRose
Summary: What if Percy stayed to hold the doors for Annabeth in Tartarus?What if the heroes still defeated Gaea, but without Percy?What if that war was the one that finally ruined Annabeth Chase?Annabeth disappears, and shows up at the only place she can think of that doesn't remind her of Percy.Jason POV
Relationships: Annabeth Chase & Jason Grace, Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson, Jason Grace/Piper McLean
Kudos: 12





	1. Part 1

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted to Wattpad in 2017, I only did minor edits for this version so it's not the best.  
> Also, it's pretty angsty. I think I rated it correctly and used the right tags but If I didn't, please tell me.

A blue light blinked in front of me, the sign of an incoming Iris Message. I accepted.

"Jason, thank the gods you answered!"

"Hey Pipes. What's up?" I asked.

"It's Annabeth. She's gone."

My mind reeled. Annabeth and I might not have known each other for very long, but she was still one of my best friends. She had gone through some pretty traumatic experiences in Tartarus. So with Percy dead, Annabeth going missing was a big problem. She wasn't really... mentally stable.

"What happened?" I asked.

"Malcolm found a note on her bunk in the Athena cabin this morning that said 'I can't do this anymore.' You know how Annabeth has been these last few months without Percy. We couldn't find her anywhere."

"That's not good." I heard a knock on my bedroom door.

"Jason, get off the phone with your girlfriend. We're going out for dinner," my roommate, Bradley, said.

"Love you, Pipes. Hope you find Annabeth soon," I said as I swiped my hand across the mist screen to sever our connection.

I went to Taco Bell with my roommates Bradley, Adam, and Josh. Adam's girlfriend also came, along with a girl that Josh somewhat dating. Knowing Josh's track record with girls, I doubted this relationship would last long. They were all mortals. I was rooming with the boys this year because a faun- no, satyr, had smelled “something funny.” at a college. So I had to pretend to be a student. It was about 6 hours away from NYC by bus.

After dinner I sat on the tiny sectional in our apartment with the boys watching American football. During halftime, I heard uneven banging on the door. I stood up to answer it.  
I shoved the old handle down and the door swung open to reveal a bloody, hunched figure with long dirty blond hair.

Annabeth was clutching a dagger. She looked up at me and mouthed my name before crumpling to the floor. I glanced up and down the outdoor hallway to make sure no one had seen. Then I reached down and gathered Annabeth into my arms, cradling her like a child. Then I flipped her dagger with my toe, catching it in my right hand. Annabeth was so skinny she barely weighed anything.

I walked back into the sitting room where my halftime had ended and my friends were engrossed in the game again. As I walked in, they looked up.

"Jason, who's that?" Adam asked to break the silence.

"Um, this if my... friend, Annabeth. She's going to be staying with me for a while," I said.

Josh balked, "she's injured. Shouldn't we call the police?"

"Um, no, I don't think that's necessary." I was pretty sure they wouldn't call the police. They were pretty laid back.

I took Annabeth to my room and laid her on the bed. Then I opened a drawer in my nightstand and took out a thermos. Unscrewing the top, I drizzled some nectar into Annabeth's open mouth. She woke with a start.

"Jason?" Annabeth mumbled.

"Yeah. What are you doing here?" I asked.

"I couldn't stay at Camp any longer. Not without....," she trailed off. Not without Percy.

"And I was the only person outside Camp that you could come to."

"Yeah."

***

Annabeth drifted into a fitful sleep after a few minutes. I took my extra blanket from the closet and went to sleep on the couch. About 2 o'clock in the morning I was jerked from my sleep when I heard a scream. I snatched my gold coin from under my pillow and sat up, ready for battle. There was a second scream, and Bradley flicked on the light.

"Dude! Your girlfriend is having a nightmare or something."

I put my face in my hands. How had I forgotten about this? Pipes told me that Annabeth had Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and got vivid nightmares from her time in Tartarus.

I hurried to my bedroom behind Bradley. Annabeth was crouched on the corner of my mattress in a fighting stance, tears streaming down her face. She held her dagger, which I had stupidly left on my nightstand.

"Annabeth, please put down the dagger." Even in her current state, I had no doubt she could  
injure me in a fight.

"Dude, your girlfriend's crazy!" Bradley grinned. Annabeth slowly swiveled her head toward him.

"I'm not his girlfriend," she growled.

“Woah, woah, okay. You’re not his girlfriend. That’s cool.”

“We’re FRIENDS.” She spoke through clenched teeth, “he’s… a relative.”

“Yeah, I said that’s cool.”

“Annabeth, I need you to hand me the dagger,” I said. She glowered at me for a few seconds before holding it out to me, blade pointed away. “Thank you.”

Her eyes widened for a moment and then she started shaking.

“Bradley, get out,” I said.

“Okay!” He hurriedly left my bedroom.

Annabeth was a shivering heap on the edge of my bed. I pulled the blankets that had fallen to the floor during her thrashing around her. Then I sat on the edge of the bed and gave her a side hug.

“Sorry,” she mumbled.

“You have nothing to be sorry about.” I awkwardly patted her back.

Annabeth pulled away from me, “I can leave tomorrow. I don’t want to be an inconvenience.”

“Where would you go?”

“I’ll find someplace.”

“You don’t have to leave.”

“I can’t go back to Camp and you’re recruiting demigods.”

“Annabeth, stay here. You’re like a sister to me. I won’t mind.”

She sighed, “I guess I can stay.”

“Great. I will Iris Message Piper when it’s not the middle of the night.”

“Night Jason, sorry again for waking you.”

The next morning I IM’d Piper once my roommates had all left. She was at archery class but took a break to talk to me.

“So, about Annabeth,” I scratched the back of my neck.

“Yeah, we haven’t found her…, Jason! What aren’t you telling me?”

“She’s staying with me.”

“WHAT?!” Piper shrieked.

Annabeth walked into my bedroom, “Hi Piper....”

“Annabeth! Are you okay?”

“Yep, I’m fine. I just couldn't stay at camp.” Annabeth sighed.

“I’m really glad you’re alive,” Piper said.

“Yeah.”

I cleared my throat, “Anyway, I have to go to class now, so I’ll IM you at our normal time later Pipes?”

“Okay. Love you. Annabeth… stay safe.”

Annabeth nodded and I cut off the connection.

***

My next class was Ancient Greece. I was technically studying for a teaching degree, though I wasn’t doing so well. Despite being the model Roman, I never actually got stellar grades on things that included sitting for long periods of time. Normally I would have eaten lunch at one of the cafeterias on campus afterward, but today I decided to check on Annabeth.

As the door swung open I saw something that made my stomach do a backflip. Annabeth was flattened against the wall behind the couch. In front of her stood Bradley, pressed into her, one hand on her chest, holding her against the wall. His other hand was in her hair and he was . . . kissing her. Annabeth was frozen.

The room was so small that it only took one stride for me to get to Bradley and yank him off Annabeth. She crumpled to the floor.

“What are you doing?!” I shouted at Bradley.

“Making out with a hot girl. Right babe?” His question was directed at Annabeth.

She stood up, eyes blazing with fury, “I have a boyfriend.”

“Annabeth!” If she got in a fight with him he would probably end up dead.

“Fine. I had a boyfriend.”

“Well why’d he break up with you?”

“He didn’t break up with me, he was murdered while protecting me!” Her voice was shaking as if on the brink of collapse.

“So you’re single.”

I couldn’t hold it together any longer. “Bradley, you forced yourself on her! I could get you arrested for that. I’ve held up with you bringing home girls almost every night! The parties, the hangovers afterward. But this is TOO MUCH. We’re leaving as soon as possible and you get to tell the others why they have to find a new roommate in the middle of the term, because I know you can’t pay my share of the rent yourself.”

I grabbed Annabeth by the arm and dragged her into my bedroom.

“Thanks,” she mumbled, “I probably would have judo flipped him.”

“Like that time in New Rome when you flipped Percy,” I grinned and then winced. To my surprise, she smiled sadly.

“Yeah, maybe not the best first impression I’ve ever made.”

“I don’t know, a lot of your introductions to monsters include you killing them.”

“Well, yeah. I haven’t killed anything in awhile. Not after seeing where they go when I chop them up.”

“How did you survive down there? What’s it like?”

“Well, I couldn’t have done it without Percy. As for what it’s like, well, It’s hard to explain. Everything wants you to die. You drink fire to stay alive. The terrain- it’s like you’re walking along an actual body. The body of Tartarus. The heart is- actually a heart. Just really big and swarming with monsters.”

“Sounds terrifying.”

“Yeah.”

She drifted off after a few minutes. I couldn’t fall asleep for hours, thinking about where I would be if it had been me to fall into Tartarus.


	2. Ending 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the happy ending. I'm not very happy with how it turned out because it's very much a wish-fulfillment ending. The other ending isn't like this.

Percy

I blinked awake, and memories came rushing down on me. Telling Annabeth to go. Her screaming at me. Three words, over and over again. I love you I love you I love you. Tartarus bellowing when he realized what was happening, Bob keeping him at bay. The ding of the elevator reaching the top just as a hellhound dug its claws into my chest. The world spinning, and me praying to whatever god was listening that Nico had led them there. That she was safe.

I was lying in a soft bed that I didn’t recognize. I turned over to look around and a lady in a servant’s uniform rushed into my room. No, not a lady, a ghost.

“Where am I?”

She chattered meaningless words at me.

“Am I in the Underworld?”

The ghost lady nodded, and beckoned for me to follow her. I was wearing a plain cotton shirt and jeans, no shoes. She lead me out my door through a series of stone corridors until I reached heavy iron doors that I recognized from my first time in the Underworld: Hades’ throne room entry.

The doors swung open. Hades was lounging on his throne, listening to a couple of ghosts complain about the traffic. I recognized them as former presidents. They probably judged souls coming to the Underworld. As I neared the throne, Hades waved them away.

“Lord Hades.” I knelt on the chilly stone floor.

“Perseus Jackson. So, here’s the rundown. That girl you like is safe. The others defeated Gaea, and the gods are granting you immortality.”

“What?!”

“When you die the gods will turn you immortal, along with the girl. Everyone else gets a free pass to Elysium. But since you died on the quest you get another life. So I’m sending you to back home.”

“Wait- wait- how long has it been?”

“Six months since Gaea was defeated. Now, you’ll be on your way,” he snapped his fingers and everything went black.

I blinked awake for the second time. I was on a train. In my lap was a map with an address and some instructions to get there. I was wearing the same clothes as before. I checked my pocket and found Riptide. A woman was sitting next to me with her earbuds in. The train was slowing down. An announcement came through the overhead speakers telling that this was the last stop and that the time was 2 a. m.. I checked my map and it said to get off at the station we were pulling into. I glanced out the opposite window and saw what looked like a college campus under the glowing streetlamps. I stepped off the train onto the platform.

Following my map, I found myself in front of an apartment 20 minutes later. I encountered no monsters. The windows were all dark in this building, but I saw a party was in full swing at one of the neighboring buildings.

Uncapping Riptide, I knocked on the apartment door.

***  
Jason

I jerked awake for the second night in a row. At first I wondered what it was that woke me. Then it came again- a knock on the door. I grabbed my gold coin from under my pillow and opened the door. On the other side of the door was a familiar figure holding a sword. I was holding my sword when the Percy Jackson impersonator stepped forward. Energy was crackling through my sword.

It clattered to the floor. I had been easily disarmed by Fake Percy. I threw my hands out in front of me and it was about to shoot lightning when a sphere of water surrounded me. Surprisingly, I was not wet. I lost the power in my hands.

“Jason,” he said in a voice that did sound quite a lot like Percy's, “Is it just you here?”

“Who are you?” I asked, ignoring his question.

“I'm Percy.”

“He's dead.”

“I was brought back to life by the gods.”

“Prove it.”

“Well, I have Riptide, um, one time I almost killed you in Kansas, you saved me at the bottom of the ocean...” He listed a bunch of other things that had happened. Including things that only he would know.

“Dude!” I gave him a bear hug, “Annabeth is going to freak!”

“She’s here?”

“Yeah but… she’s probably going to think you’re a monster.”

“Didn’t think about that.” Percy frowned. “Where is she?”

I led him to my bedroom where Annabeth was sleeping, peaceful for once. I whispered her name. She opened her eyes.

“Something feels different,” she said. Annabeth glanced toward the door. “Percy?!”

“Annabeth.”

“I feel like I can breathe better now. My head feels clearer.”

“So you really believe it’s me? That was easier than I thought.”

A tear dripped down her cheek, “I know it’s you. I can feel it.”

Percy and Annabeth both rushed to each other at the same time. They hugged. Annabeth began sobbing into Percy’s chest. He stroked her hair.

They stayed like that for a few moments, and then Annabeth spoke.

“I always knew you would come back to me.”

I smiled and slipped out the door to give them some privacy.

***  
Percy

I pulled away from Annabeth when I heard stomps in the hall. The corridor light flickered on and a large figure stepped through the door.

“Jason, your light woke me up. Who’s this hugging Annie?” The boy said.

I raised an eyebrow, “One, don’t call her ‘Annie,’ and two, I’m her boyfriend.”

He laughed. “I’m her boyfriend. The old one’s dead.”

“Well, obviously you’re not her boyfriend. Also, I’m obviously not dead.”

“Annie, tell this loser who your boyfriend is.”

“Seaweed Brain is my boyfriend. Not you, Bradley.”

Then she grabbed my hand and dragged me out the door.


	3. Ending 2

Annabeth Chase never saw Percy Jackson again. She ventured to the underworld, but he was not there. She begged and begged, but no mortal or immortal could tell her where he was. She would catch a glimpse of him sometimes, in a song he would have liked or a joke he would have made.

When Annabeth went to college in New Rome she was first heartbroken, watching the families wander around. But after some time, she became delighted as she watched little children grow before her eyes as she passed them in the street every day during her daily routine. And when she grew older and bought a house of her own near Camp Half-Blood to train young demigods, she could often be found on the beach, staring out to sea.

Annabeth watched her friends grow old and find love in new places, and she learned to also. She loved all the children she trained. She loved talking with her friends. She loved the thrill of fighting. And though romantic love would never enter her heart again, she was able to carry just as much love in her heart as if it could.

It wasn't peaceful forever, Annabeth trained demigods who went on to fight other forces, who saved the world time and time again. Annabeth Chase was a legend. She was revered. But she knew when her time was over. When it was time to let new campers take the lead.

She finally found out the truth, that his essence, his soul, had been dissolved. He had given everything to help them win the war. And when she found that out, she wasn't finally at peace. She had found peace years before. So when death came, she didn't fight it. She let it take her. She didn't know what would happen next, but she was brave.

Annabeth Chase never saw Percy Jackson again. But she was brave.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's quite short, but I hope you liked it!

**Author's Note:**

> I'll post the endings (there's two) soon. They're already written, I just have to prep them.


End file.
